Yet I am a first rate owner and my preference is to sail 1st 2nd and 3rd rates ,,,, so you have me wrong .. Im not giving feedback that will help me win ... im giving feedback that keeps the game exciting for me .... the excitement of when I am stupidly sailing a 1st rate .. alone and an enemy frigate comes into view .. is this guy good enough to attack and sink me
winning without the threat of losing is boring
I dont want to not care because I can easy win and i will blow him out of the water ...an easy win isnt interesting

I really dont want to be negative at all about this at all I have 7500 hours in this game so you can see how much I love it .. game labs have saved me a lot of money as I havent bought any other games in last 3 or so years so I have no axe to grind with the devs
I just need convincing more that this will work bcause all i see is indeed a dumbing down of the game .. and actually its in my favour which may seem strange ,,, I understand why the devs have done it and the reasons why ,,,
even with the hours I have im not a really good player I would say just above average ,,but this is where the change and dumbing down happens ... it actual helps me by removing the skill factor between myself and the really good players ..
so you may ask why does that potentially spoil the game for me ....
it takes away the fear of losing my first rates and line ships that I sail .... it takes away the intlellectual thought process of balancing risk v reward ...
the most fun moments of Naval Action ... are when I have risked all and won ...
you champion the realitic and authentic ,,,, yet its a game that that cannot reproduce realism and authentic because it would be unplayable ... because there are factors that can never be reproduced ... the main one been the fear of losing your life ..and that doesnt happen in NA fortunatly .. . ships rarely sank in battle ... if you want authenticity ... I may be wrong but no ships actually sank at trafalgar those that did sink were over the following days in the storm due to their poor condition .the notion of a ship going down all guns blazing is a myth ... captains lost their ships to boarding actions or simply surrendered and struck their colours due to loss of crew or been unable to fight due to damage .many ships such as traders surrendered afte they received a shot across the bows and no fight actully happened . Im sure you agree this would make poor game play
Naval action can range from been fantasically exciting to play and down right boring sometimes ... i fear the damage model been introduced will lessen the excitement and fear and just go to been moderatley fun and sometimes boring
every change in the game affects lots of other mechanics ... but also players motivation to play.... yes I understand that the changes will help some players ... but it will turn off others
the damage model may need changing but it .. in my opinion it will change the game and bring back aspects to the game that we didnt like 12-24 months ago such as an ocean full of 1st rates
port battles where tactics and sailing are less important than weight of broadside
sorry this is so long

the actual aiming of a cannon was done by gun captains and the their level of skill ... this is represented in the game by books and mods that reduce dispersion ... and once we have them we forget how it is to fight without them .

the only thing unhistorical and stupid is a 1st rate captain sailing a first rate alone .. and putting himself in that position ... but you want to dumb it down so people can play stupid thats your choice
anyway thats my last ,,, its coming whether we like it or not ,,,,,, I hope your right and im wrong

so what ... they can dance around all they like they cant damage a first rate ... first rate needs one chance and they are dead
sailed a live oak/ white oak vic .. no mods on testt bed .. engaged a 12 ship fleet r from cerbs , hermiones, belle poules, and a couple of indefs i think sank the whole fleet in 30- 40 mins
i didnt need to repair once .. . think i left the battle with about 50% arour both sides ,,

thats not a problem ... and i do understand ...but it isnt quite reversed is it ...your comparison of hp ... to be accurate .. would also mean cutters with 42s and first rates with 6s tp make it corect
you have some romantic notion that people will still ships like the suprise and endy ,,, when there are ships around they dont stand a chance against ,,, there is no motivation to sail those ships under new dange system other than been a victim
im not going to quit just because you change the damage model .. just change how I play as will most ... instead of sailing frigates i will go back to sailing 1st rates .
whats going to happen when everyone is in a first rate and no one sails any other ship ... what changes are to be made then ... the balance seems fine now ... lots of varied ships around the map from niagras ,, endys , bellonas etc just sems a shame to get rid of all those nice ships because the cannon damage isnt realistic ... but at least i can sail around with impunity from any other ship ,, i reckon santi will be the meta with its fire power .. i better start building

having recieved a warning to not been bothered to trawl through the thread ... i have now done so and found the quote i was looking for
in simple terms the average player was quitiig the game because when sailing alone .. they were sunk by people sailing frigates ,, so the new damage model is to make it impossile for an experienced player to sink a first rate if hes sailing a frigate .. and the average player survives and sails on in his first rate and doesnt quit
thats just dumbing the game down ,,,
its rare to see a first rate sailing alone in the game at the moment .... remember last year when everyone was crying about too many first rates in the game ... it wasnt authentic or realistic for so many first rates to be sailing around
all thats goig to happen is the experienced players will sail first rates and kill average players in their first rates and average player will still quit ..
port battles .. the cry was more diversity in port battles needed all we have is 1st rate v 1st rate port battles ... so this was changed and now we have very diverse port batles .. with new damage model .. it will be the winers will be decided by who gets the biggest cannons in battle ... back to 1st rate v 1st rate
I understand the thinking around the damage model changes ,,, but its not going to change player retention out comes ..the expereinced players will just find the new meta and the average or new players will carry on siking and quitting while dumbing down the game as a result
there has to be another way to player retention without this

agree with all this ... imo this is another pvp/rvr killing change .. for the sake of some imagined authenticity ,,,, when in reality ships very rarely fought to the death and in fact very rarely sank in battle .. as soon as a ship became unable to fight they struck their colours and surrendered .. reality isnt fun to play in a game
anyone name one game that is authentic and realistic
i have tried searching the whole thread dont seem to be able to find it but i thought that Devs stated that part of the change was to encourage noobs to play and not quit ... the increased damage model will let them rise through the ranks quicker .. i may be mistaken"

so how does this aid player retention ?
your saying 2-3 noobs in hercs can sink a bellona ... after changes they cant they need to be further up the promotion ladder , and need bigger ships ... I thought this change to damage was to help noobs stay in game .. what your saying it makes it harder

the cost of a 1st rate isnt prohibitive .... you can buy victory marks for around 40k reals .. they are not expensive .. doubloons are not hard to come by either ... 1 year ago everyone was moaning about s many 1st rates in the game and it wasnt realistic ... people will always play the game how do i stand the best chance of winning and not sinking .. the NA world will be full of 1st rates again ,,,
the actual base speed and sailing profile depends on your ship build ... its easy to build a fir/fir vic .. that does 13/14 knots .. with the ability to 1 OR 2 shot kill a frigate with its fire power it doesnt need to be tanky .. it will also have the speed to evade other 1st rates
the old days of 10 first rates sat outside KPR seal clubbing will be back ... it wont help new player retention just make them leave for a different reason .. dying at the hands of a le req or a santi .. doent matter you still sink ...
the main problem is this game has been in testing so long ... too many players have reached the top level .. too many have more gold more resources etc etc so that cost doesnt matter
trying to re design the game to help newbies doesnt help beause the experienced guys soon find the new meta and kill the noobs who then quit ....

So the current defender meta is to bringing more small fast low BR ships to sail into the circles that are conquered by attackers, and stop them form generating points. This is very effective and is why often even if the attacking team is killing winning the battle and has been owning the most circles, they do no get 1000 point and they lose the pb.
but wasnt this brought in because people were bored with just 1st rate battles and wanted more diverse port battles

i dont like it at all ... i dont see how it improves anything apart from those that like pve.. it will speed up pve battles ... it will ruin pvp and rvr ... i havent commented before because it was a negative experience ,,,
frigates never sank lineships in real life because lineships never sailed alone so there wasnt a case of a frigate v 1st rate 1v1 ,,,, NA is different ppl sail 1st rates alone all the time ...so to stop them losing their ship make it impossible for a frigate to sink it
ithink they are fixing something thats not broken and maybe breaking it while doing so ...